I’ve been seeing the controversy over Miss California Carrie Prejean’s comments in the Miss USA pageant last Sunday. When asked by a gay blogging judge named Perez Hilton about her position on gay marriage, she replied by saying:
“We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”
After being the apparent front runner in the contest prior to giving her answer above, she came in second to Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton. Whether her stance on marriage caused her to lose the crown is speculative. However, I don’t understand why her answer became a religious issue and even more so, why she would be judged harshly because she spoke her mind. You can see how she presented her answer and hear the question in this video:
Instead of being lambasted, she should be applauded! Carrie didn’t speak in an offensive tone nor did she appear to spread a message of faith or to promote some agenda. When asked by an openly gay judge who will be voting for her or against her in the pageant, it obviously takes a great amount of courage and resolve to stand there and speak her mind truthfully. Whether we agree with her answer or not, she took a bold step that I am not sure many could have done. She did with composure and was able to maintain her integrity. What’s wrong with that? I mean, even President Obama has clearly said that while he will do everything in his power to protect the rights of gay men and women in America, he will not condone gay marriages. However, no one is out there shouting against Obama for being religious or stupid.
Perez Hilton posted a video blog response to Carrie Prejean’s position on marriage. It’s very nasty and hateful. It does promote an agenda. It’s demeaning. It’s just ugly:
Did you see how Perez criticizes Prejean for not being a uniter? My question to Mr. Perez Hilton is how the heck can he make the divisive and biased comments in his video blog which do not promote unity, yet criticize Carrie Prejean for not being a uniter?
The news channels and blogs everywhere have taken up this issue and made it a religious issue. Because Carrie Prejean believes marriage should not be legalized for gay couples, that it is a Christian ethic only. Therefore, another battle against Christianity has now developed. The funny this is I know atheists and non-Christians that are against gay marriage too! There are actually even Christians and churches that approve of gay marriage.
The issue of gay marriage being legalized here in the United States really shouldn’t be about Christian or not Christian. It should be about the law of each state and the will of the voting residents. Agree or disagree…right or wrong. This is the way our land is governed. It’s a democracy and we have a say in determining laws based on our votes and who we elect into our government.
One of the truly sad things about this whole ordeal is that it is another event that continues to confirm the political views of NBC. To have all of this happen as a result of a program that aired on its network, yet not speak out against Perez Hilton for how he handles this is ridiculous. Heck, even the Miss California organization had a spokesman that denounced Prejean and stated that her comments had saddened them. Meanwhile NBC sits back and greedily and approvingly watches the fireworks because it brings ratings to a program from their network and at the same time stands for a political position it shares with Hilton. In the end, it shouldn’t be about religious beliefs. However, it seems like whenever opportunity strikes Christianity and Christ become the targets of hate and oppression. As it does, will we stand up to it as Carrie Prejean has, even if it means seeing a dream end as hate builds up against us?
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Very well stated. Who really wants “tolerance” anyway? Would you be pleased if you met someone for the first time and they told you they were going to tolerate you?
People say there are hypocrites in the church. That is true. There are also hypocrites in every organization, especially the media.
Any group that wants to promote their agenda but silence others is not promoting “tolerance”. Far from it.
The Bible does not promote hate, rather it tells us to love our enemies. Yet people with views that differ from the Bible often claim that Christianity is intolerant and hateful. While most Christians do not reflect the love of Christ as they should I think those who claim Christians are “intolerant” are more hypocritical than they think.
Steve, I agree with the core of your reply. However, when I see your question, “Who really wants ‘tolerance’ anyway? Would you be pleased if you met someone for the first time and they told you they were going to tolerate you?” it reminds me that in-fact we do preach tolerance in the church in just such a way. It reminds me of the over used church phrase, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” I think we as Christians under this type of theology really are just tolerating someone that is under (what we consider) the sin of homosexuality, alcoholism, etc. Even those not practicing sin such as homeless people are just tolerated when in the church. We don’t see people as people, but we tend to pass judgment on them, which causes us to just tolerate them.
Wow, that was like a whole new blog post in itself! Sorry for the rant. Thanks for your well-thought reply!
Dave, I really don’t have an issue with the response of Perez Hilton. The freedom of expression goes both ways. He wants to go crazy, knock yourself out.
I think she handled herself well and I’m not sure it cost her anything but instead probably won some points.
The only person I didn’t care for was Keith Lewis, the official from California. He should support the contestant even if he disagreed. He is the one I take issue with.
I did stop and wonder if they taught about modesty in the home as well.
I am a straight individual getting ready to marry my girlfriend of 5 years. There is 2 things that people should realize about gay marriage, 1: most gays want to get married for health insurance purposes. 2: As a true friend of many local pastors, which all say that if it does become a law and they are arrested for discrimination they weather spend there whole life in prison than spend there eternity in damnation for not holding up to the word of our savoir. Think about that. Its not about what we want on this earth its about how we want to be saved!!!
Carrie Prejean deserves to have her crown. She is beauiful and is also entitled to her own opinion about gays. -’